Beeps and Whirrs
by DarkWind13
Summary: An injury after a chase with Knockout leaves Rafael without the ability to understand Bumblebee. Disclaimer -I don't own Transformers-
1. Chapter 1

~Bumblebee's speech pattern will be as Raf understands him. (What Bumblebee is saying will be in brackets if he's not understood) If you don't like it then don't read this~

Raf and Bumblebee were enjoying a ride.

"Do you want to stop for ice-cream and go to the park?" Bee asked.

"Sure, Bee." Raf enthusiastically agreed.

Raf was the only human who could understand Bee, but that didn't matter, they were like family. Bee always cheered Raf up when he had a bad day and Raf always shared Bee's excitement in any matter. As they saw Knockout approaching them in his vehicle mode.

"Quick, get in!" Bee yelled. Raf quickly hoped into the passenger seat and Bumblebee drove off. Knockout noticed them and chased them.

"We need a groundbridge! Knockout is chasing us!" Bee said, calling the others on the communicator.

"We'll fix it as soon as we can, Bumblebee," Ratchet explained, "The groundbridge isn't functioning at this moment due to Bulkhead and WheelJack's reckless lobbing."

"We'll send backup immediately." Optimus announced. The autobots left to save Bumblebee as Ratchet repaired the groundbrige with the help of Jack and Miko.

Bumblebee sped along the highway but knockout was right on his tail!

"I knew you'd use your renowned speed to escape." Knockout laughed. Bumblebee ignored his taunt and continued to speed along the highway, the trees appeared as a blur and he knew that Optimus would disapprove of such speeds but he had to protect Rafael. He continued his route along the highway then he saw a laser fly overhead, it missed but hit a tree so it fell and blocked his path. Bumblebee tried to stop but he couldn't at the speed he was going so he hit the tree. The impact knocked Raf unconscious.

When the other autobots arrived, Bumblebee explained that Raf was hurt and needed medical attention. They helped Bee escape and covered him as they drove towards base. A groundbridge appeared. Bumblebee and the others quickly drove though it.

"Is anyone hurt?" Ratchet asked the moment they entered.

"Rafael is." Optimus explained. They hurriedly set up medbay and lied Raf down on the bed as Bumblebee paced nervously.

"Everything will be alright. Raf's been though tough situations before." Arcee consoled him. Shortly after, Raf woke up.

"How are you feeling?" Jack asked.

"My head hurts a bit, but I've been worse." Raf replied

"Beep-beep-whirr! (I'm so sorry Raf!)" Bee explained. Raf looked confused.

"I'm sorry, Bumblebee, I didn't understand, can you try slowing down a bit." Bumblebee took a deep, calming breath, Raf just woke up and he was still worried so maybe he was just speaking too quickly."

"Beep-whir (I'm sorry.)" Bee repeated slowly. Tears formed in Raf's eyes.

"I'm sorry, Bee, I... I can't understand you."

"It appears that the impact damaged Rafael's ability to understand Bumblebee." Ratchet gravely thought aloud. Bumblebee looked stricken and rushed to his room and Rafael sat their and looked at the ground crying. It was time to drive the children home. Arcee insisted that she wants to stay with Bumblebee in case he needed her so Optimus drove Jack home. Jack was the first to break the silence.

"Raf was so close to Bee, it must feel terrible for both of them, Raf lost the ability to talk to his closest friend-"

"And in losing the ability to talk to Rafael, Bumblebee likely feels like he is back at Tiger Pax and dealing with his loss of voice all over again." Optimus finished.


	2. Repairing the friendship

Raf was sitting in his room thinking about his friendship with Bumblebee. He didn't want to lose his closest friend over the fact that he couldn't understand him. He knew that is was a, rather large, obstacle, but they been in impossible situations before. Smokescreen was planning to take him to base, but Raf knew that holding on to his friendship with Bumblebee was more important, he called the base

"Hey, umm.. If it's alright with Bumblebee, could he pick me up today?" Raf said, picking up speed throughout the sentence. Bumblebee whirred eagerly and flashed a thumbs-up. Optimus smiled at their hope of friendship."

"That would be a wonderful idea." He agreed.

Bumblebee drove to Raf's house excitedly, but slightly nervous. What if they couldn't be friends? Rafael descended the steps two at a time to meet Bumblebee. They drove to the park. It was a nice day but the silence was unbearable. Raf was afraid to speak, not wanting Bumblebee to feel bad for not being able to reply. Bumblebee wanted to talk to Raf, but knew that he wouldn't understand. Then Raf had a great idea. Telling a joke doesn't really depend on the other person's response.

"Why did the chicken cross the road?" Raf asked smirking.

"Beep-whirr? (Why)" Bumblebee asked.

"I don't know, I asked you." Raf laughed. Bee laughed, true Raf was awful at telling jokes, but he was relieved to have some form of communication, even if it is limited. The pair mostly drived in silence. As they passed the park, Raf and Bumblebee both felt uncomfortable.

"Maybe we can drive somewhere else..." Raf suggested.

"Beep-whirr-beep. (I don't want to be here either.)" Bee agreed as they drove off. They drove together until sunset without talking.

"It's time I went home. "Raf announced. Bee silently drove Raf home.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Bee." Raf said quietly when they were at his house, Raf cried that night, sure it went ok, but they never would be able to have the same relationship if they don't talk. Raf knew in his heart, he'd do anything to be able to talk to Bumblebee again. He picked up a book Ratchet gave him and began studying Cybertronian.

When Bumblebee arrived at the base, it was clear that he looked defeated, even to Optimus, who was waiting up for him.

"How did your outing go?" He asked as gently as he could.

"Beep-Whirr-beep-beep-whirr (It went fine today, but we could barely said one word to each other)".

"Rafael is your partner, and dear friend, Bumblebee. I have full faith that you can repair your broken friendship." Optimus consoled, he then left the room. Bumblebee sat down, he knew in his spark that Optimus was right, even that bad joke about the chicken, every attempt made their friendship stronger. Rafael was too close to his spark to give up. He promised himself to never lose hope on Rafael and he'd try communicating with him, anyway he can.

~Yes, there will be more, I'm not sure when, but I'll try to be fairly quick.~


	3. The storm

It was a week since Raf lost the ability to understand Bumblebee, yet Raf went to base everyday and played video games with Bee. The silence of the strained friendship took its toll on the rest of the base as well, no one knew what to say as they all felt sorry for Bumblebee and Raf.

"How was your day, Rafael?" Ratchet asked, hoping to start a conversation with him.

"It was okay." Raf quietly replied. Miko picked up on Ratchet's plan and decided to help.

"It was pretty funny when the computer glitched at the prep rally; remember Raf, the principal had to find you in the stands so he could ask you to fix it." She laughed, though the laugh was clearly exaggerated to try to make Raf laugh. It didn't work.

"Yeah, you were really quick with it, good job." Jack added.

"Look, I know what you guys are doing so just stop it already!" Raf yelled before storming out of the base.

"I didn't mean to make it worse." Miko sulked.

"None of us intended to upset Rafael, however, we must understand that this is very difficult for him and we must be patient." Optimus consoled. Jack looked out the window and noticed huge storm clouds coming in.

"I just hope Raf makes it back to his house before the storm comes." He said wearily.

"Beep-Whirr-Bleep! ( I should see if he needs a ride!)" Bumblebee exclaimed.

"Bumblebee, I know that you mean well, however, Rafael might just want some time alone." Ultra Magnus argued. Bee angrily turned to face him.

"Beep-Whirr-Whirr-beep! Whirr-bleep-beep! (Raf is my friend! I need to make sure he'll make it home okay!" He yelled. Bumblebee didn't wait for Optimus's input, he just transformed and quickly drove out of the base.

Bumblebee found Raf running along a path in the park and followed him, determined to find some way to warn his friend of the storm.

"Beep-Whirr! (Raf wait!)" He called out.

"Leave me alone, Bumblebee!" Raf cried. He then continued running, ignoring the large ominous bangs of thunder, and Bumblebee followed. Raf pretend not to notice. Close to a half-hour later, the pair found an abandoned energon mine. Bee transformed and motioned for Raf to go behind him, in case any decepticons were present, and Raf listened to Bumblebee's advice. A bang of thunder hit a lose piece of energon and Bee instinctively protected Raf, by blocking the rays with his arms. All that was seen was a large blue explosion. Bumblebee and Raf both fell unconscious Bumblebee, narrowly missing Rafael.

~ There will be one more chapter coming soon in case anyone of you wanted to know.~


	4. Chapter 4

Bumblebee woke up to find Raf just waking up

"Raf, are you ok?" Bumblebee yelled before realizing that Raf couldn't understand him.

"Wait... Bumblebee, I... I understood you." Raf replied.

"Really?" Bee asked. Raf nodded enthusiastically.

"That's amazing!" Bee cheered, he then remembered the explosion, "We should let everyone know what happened though, they're probably worried." Raf nodded,

"You're right, Bee." Raf replied. Bumblebee transformed to vehicle form and Raf sat in the passenger seat. Bumblebee called base on the communicator.

"I found Raf, there was an explosion when thunder hit a loose piece of energon, but we both seem okay... and there's some good news, but we want to leave that as a surprise." Bumblebee reported not being able to contain his excitement as he talked about the surprise.

"I will open a groundbridge to your coordinates, I think it is best for both you and Rafael to have a medical examination to ensure that you both are fine." Optimus replied. He didn't want to ask what the surprise was because he knew that the past week was very difficult on both Bumblebee and Rafael, so he decided to give them the satisfaction of showing the surprise after ensuring that they're alright. Bumblebee excitedly went though the groundbridge. The others couldn't help but laugh as Ratchet tried to examine the pair, Bumblebee and Raf tried to behave, but they were too excited to sit still for any length of time. Normally, Ratchet would complain about their behavior but even he couldn't find it in his spark to do anything to quell their excitement. He tried to be patient, however, there were more than a few annoyed sighs.

"Alright, the explosion didn't cause any serious damage, now will you two please just say what excited you two enough to act like sparklings?" Bumblebee and Raf looked at each other, they were so excited to tell about the news, neither actually planned how they'll tell.

"We're not exactly sure how, but somehow, after the blast knocked us unconscious, I could understand Bumblebee again!" Raf exclaimed.

"I just asked him if he was alright, I didn't think he'd be able to understand me, but he could and we were so excited!" Bumblebee added. Everyone at the base cheered.

"It appears that the shock of the explosion triggered..." Ratchet observed before realizing that everyone was too caught up in their joy and relief to listen. They were both fine, so Ratchet decided to let it go unnoticed. Bumblebee and Raf began talking to each other so fast in their excitement that no one else could understand them. Not wanting to dampen their mood, the others found other activities to occupy themselves. Optimus, before leaving the room gave Bumblebee a knowing smile. As Bumblebee and Raf were talking they realized that their friendship could overcome anything. Neither had ever felt so secure and so confident.

~Ok, that was it for the story, I hope you guys enjoyed it~


End file.
